Yeah for Cami Jill

 

So, here is something I am VERY proud of! When we moved into our house 3 years ago this month - it needed alot of work. Jeff and I actually love home projects so we were not scared away. Before we even moved in we painted the entire interior, put in new carpet and I tiled the master bathroom floor BY MYSELF (another proud accomplisment). The next priority was to re-do the backyard. Seriously people, it was like Better Homes and Gardens threw up back there. We had to remove an enormous pond with tons and tons (literally) of lava rock that was just a death waiting to happen. There was almost no grass on this 1/4 acre. It was all rose bushes mixed with squash plants and cactus. Anyway - that has taken 2 summers and over 25 yards of dirt - to just clean up; now we have to start planting trees and stuff. Anyway, one thing I have hated from the very first walk through was the fireplace. I will try to find a before picture. It was this masive old fashion mantle (I usually like old things, but this had "saloon" written all over it) and this yucky grey tile. It just wasn't me. Ever since I've dreamed of a floor to ceiling stone fire place. And here it is. This took 3 working sessions spaced out over 5 months. I mean- what mom has 4-5 hour blocks to work on something? Jeff just about died the day he came home and found that I had ripped the old mantle and tile off the wall. "So, we're doing this now?" I had to remind him of the time he just started knocking down the wall in the pantry to expand it - it wasn't really planned - it just started happening! A guy in our ward owns a stone company and I got all the stone for $75. Jeff helped me put up the backer board, I got a beam from a lumber yard and beat it with chain and hammered screw marks into it and then stained it. I put all the stone up myself and started to grout. I found out that it is harder to grout stone than time and called a guy to finish the grout - $50. So, here is my $200 fireplace. I am so proud of it!<